(TAP) – Some 800 thousand French tourists had visited Tunisia in 2018, Senator and President of the Tunisia-France Friendship Group Jean-Pierre Sueur affirmed, highlighting his country’s intention to work with Tunisia to increase this number to 1 million tourists in 2019.

Speaking at the end of his Thursday’s meeting with Prime Minister Youssef Chahed at Dar Dhiafa in Carthage, Sueur commended the “real security efforts made by Tunisia.”

He expressed wish to see the Tunisian tourism develops further “thanks to French tourists”. “It is a real pleasure to come to Tunisia,” he pointed out.

The Senator also noted that Tunisian-French co-operation will be boosted not only with the capital Tunis but also with the south.

In this respect he announced the setting up of a French Alliance in Gafsa and Gabes. “It is a choice.

We do not want to waste time due to bureaucracy,” he indicated, affirming that the multidisciplinary hospital of Gafsa will be operational in 2023, at the latest, as part of medical co-operation